Many boats utilize one or more on-board devices which require cooling. Herein, the term “boat” is used to mean any type of vessel, including but not limited to, a boat, ship, yacht, barge, etc. used to navigate a body of water. Typically, such devices are cooled by circulating an aqueous fluid (e.g., water) through a heat exchanger system, whereby the heat from the device is transferred to the circulating cooling water, thereby keeping the device cooled. In many applications, the water utilized and circulated in the heat exchanger system comprises water obtained from the body of water in which the boat is situated. While the body of water generally possesses sufficient water for this process, the quality of the water may be undesirable. For example, the water may contain living organisms (such as algae, bacteria, etc.) which tend to thrive within the heat exchanger system and can cause pluggage or otherwise foul the heat exchanger system. In addition, the body of water may contain other objects, such as debris, pollutants, mud, silt, garbage, etc., which may cause pluggage or other problems with the heat exchanger system. Such pluggage or other problems associated with boat heat exchanger water quality lead to maintenance costs and downtime which is undesirable.
A need therefore exists for a boat heat exchanger system which utilizes better quality water in its heat exchanger system. As different boats in different situations may desire to utilize either a self-contained higher quality water source, and/or an accessible remotely located higher quality water source, it is desirable that such a system provides the flexibility to allow for one or both of such different sources of higher quality water.